In recent years, in the service industry field such as public agencies, banks, companies, medical entities, and educational institutions, widely employed are ID cards (also referred to as identification card) such as identification cards, passports, alien registration cards, library cards, cash cards, credit cards, licenses such as driver's licenses, employee identification cards, company member identification cards, membership cards, medical cards, and student identification cards. In such cards, facial images of the card bearers are recorded to identify card as well as textual information images such as text and marks related to the card bearer. Consequently, frequently performed are printing and the like for the purpose of thwarting forgery and falsification of cards. In recent years, widely employed are various contact type or non-contact type electronic cards, or magnetic cards, which store personal information.
In typical cases, the aforesaid facial images are formed by multi-density level full color images which are formed employing, for example, a sublimation type thermosensitive transfer recording system or a silver halide color photographic system. Further, the textual information is comprised of binary images and are formed by employing, for example, a fusion type thermosensitive transfer recording system, a sublimation type thermosensitive transfer recording system, a silver halide color photographic system, an electrophotographic system, an ink jet system, and a re-transfer system. In addition, to thwart forgery and falsification, employed are holograms and fine line patterns. Further, if desired, a standard format is previously printed onto the ID cards.
Some of the conventional card preparation methods enhance surface protection properties by transferring a single layer comprised of a resinous sheet. For example, such methods are described in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication (hereinafter referred to as JP-A) No. 10-863 (pages 2–4), Japanese Patent No. 2609871 (pages 1–6), Japanese Patent No. 2626801 (pages 1–6 and FIGS. 1 and 2), JP-A No. 8-224982 (pages 1–4 and FIGS. 1–3), Japanese Patent No. 2832478 (pages 1–6 and FIGS. 1–3), Examined Japanese Patent Application Publication (hereinafter referred to JP-B) No. 7-45279 (pages 1, 2, and 4 and FIGS. 1 and 2), Japanese Patent No. 2807898 (pages 1–4), Japanese Patent No. 2524810 (pages 1, 2, and 4 and FIG. 1) and JP-B No. 6-98849 (pages 1–3 and 5 and FIG. 1). Further, some methods perform twice the transfer process to enhance mechanical strength. For example, such methods are described in JP-A No. 11-184270 (pages 2–6 and FIGS. 1, 2, and 5–8) and JP-B No. 11-268457 (pages 1–4 and FIG. 1). Still further, antistatic techniques are disclosed while employing conventional transfer foils. For example, such techniques are described in JP-A No. 7-017195 (pages 1–3 and FIG. 1) and JP-A No. 7-299994 (pages 1–3 and FIG. 1).
Further, for the purpose of enhancing lightfastness of images, some cards use ultraviolet absorbents in the card surface protective layer. Such cards are disclosed in, for example, JP-A No. 6-067592 (pages 1–5 and FIGS. 1–3), JP-A No. 7-205597 (pages 1–6 and FIGS. 1 and 2) and JP-A No. 2002-211091 (pages 1–3 and 5, and FIGS. 1–3).
In conventional methods described in above-mentioned Patent Documents, surface protective properties are enhanced by transferring a single resinous sheet layer. However, mechanical strength (hereinafter referred to as scratch resistance) was insufficient.
Further, in some method, in order to enhance mechanical strength transfer is carried out twice. However, problems occur in which adhesion property between foils is degraded due to weak adhesion between the second foil and the first foil.
Still further, in any production cases in which such an image protective layer transfer system is employed, when a transfer foil is transferred onto a card, charge accumulates during peeling, whereby dust in the interior of the transfer apparatus is adhered onto the card substrate prior to transfer. As a result, problems occur in which during winding the transferred support, dust falls or dust in the apparatus is wound up together with the support, whereby cards of poor external appearance are produced. Specifically, when transfer is repeated twice to enhance the aforesaid mechanical strength, problems occur during the first transfer, in that dust is adhered on a card which was subjected to transfer and during the second transfer, the aforesaid dust is wound up, resulting in foreign matter problems as well as a decrease in adhesion between foils. In addition, static charge results in operational problems which cause bugs in PCs and databases which control the image forming apparatus as well as the transfer apparatus.
Still further, when transfer is repeated twice to enhance the aforesaid mechanical strength, the charge amount in the apparatus increases due to accumulation of electrostatic charge due to peeling at two positions, whereby problems occur in which bugs are more readily formed. In the conventional antistatic techniques related to transfer foils, improvement is tried by the addition of surfactants to a portion of the transfer foil or the use of a curable antistatic layer. However, adhesion of dust on cards has not been minimized and scratch resistant has also not been sufficient.
Further, in order to enhance lightfastness of images, UV absorbents are employed in the surface protective layer of cards. However, surface protective properties have been degraded due to the addition of UV absorbents, and light fastness has not been sufficiently improved due to the absence of UV absorbents near images.